This invention relates to the holding of beverages for periods of time at a desired temperature with minimal exposure to air, and dispensing said beverage in sequential portions during said periods of time.
Many food service establishments prepare a large batch quantity of a beverage, particularly coffee, which is dispensed as individual serving portions throughout a business day. In the course of such prolonged holding time, the coffee is maintained at elevated temperature and in contact with air. The oxidative effects of air under such holding conditions causes degradation of the flavor components of the coffee. Evaporative effects produced by exposure of the surface of the beverage to air cause a concentration of the coffee with attendant intensification of undesirable degradation products. Unless the vessel in which the beverage is maintained is properly insulated, considerable energy is required to maintain the elevated temperature for prolonged holding periods. Thus, cost control inefficiencies, waste and unsatisfactory customer product trial can result. Although preparing beverages in small batches may ameliorate the problem, it is disadvantageously labor intensive.
To a lesser degree, the same problems are encountered with the bulk production and maintenance of hot tea for serving, as occurs in oriental restaurants.
In maintaining cold beverages such as fruit and vegetable juices in a ready-to-serve condition over prolonged periods of time, similar problems of air oxidation and high energy consumption are experienced.
Although thermally insulated containers for liquids are well known, few are capable of conveniently dispensing portions of the confined liquid, and even fewer are capable of excluding air from the diminishing volume of the stored liquid.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide apparatus which maintains a beverage at desired temperature with minimal energy requirement and minimal exposure to air for a prolonged period of time, and from which said beverage can be conveniently dispensed as a series of individual servings during said period of time.
It is another object of this invention to provide apparatus as in the foregoing object which can be easily re-filled with beverage, and easily cleaned between fillings.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide apparatus of the aforesaid nature of rugged and durable construction amenable to low cost manufacture.
These objects and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description.